Page 77 of Monstrous Travels as Wicked as Sin

“And that’s what everyone sees. The big show, the largesse. All the things he does for you, buys for you. But in Joe, I think I get what Percy likes. Because I got a taste of it. Joe is just a really good person who cares deeply about people. And I know it’s probably hard for you to watch, but if I were as messed up as you make Percy sound, and if someone like Joe put his arms around me and told me it was all going to be okay, I’d never want to let him go. I’d probably chain him to a chair, too. I’d probably even think I was in love with him.”

With a look of abhorrence such as she’d never seen on Leo’s face, he interrupted, “Do you have a crush on that twat?”

“No, you idiot,” she muttered. “I have a crush on you.”

“Oh.” He walked on a little further, then, “Good.”

“Good?”

“He’s a twat.”

Althea rumbled out a long, low groan, then finished the thought that had been so rudely interrupted. “Joe’s wonderful. And I think Percy’s infatuated. But to give love—real love—you have to be capable of being loved. And I don’t know if Percy is. I think he’s fundamentally broken. He’s all prickles and smashed glass all over. Don’t get me wrong, I like him, mostly. All thethings he’s done for me, and for you, by the sound of it. There’s a real goodness in there, but that dark side of him… I just don’t know if he can let someone in like that. Completely and forever. It’s why he pushes you away, puts you in danger, leaves you all alone in Paris. It’s why he talks to me the way he does, why he goes through lovers like they’re disposable napkins. And that’s what he’ll do to Joe, only a thousand times worse.”

“He’s just tough. That’s what keeps us safe. And you and Joe too.”

“No, Leo. One of these days, he’s going to go too far, and I just hope Joe comes to his senses before he gets hurt too badly. That’s the only reason I’m still here. To try to prevent that and repay Joe for what he did for me.” Althea pulled up at a phone box at the top of a leafy and expensive-looking street. “Now, do you want to pretend to be the overdose victim, or should I?”

It took Leo a moment, processing her words, to respond. “You call. I’ll jump the paramedics with my knife when they try to help me.”

Fingers already tapping out 999, she replied, “One dose of Narcan coming right up.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

TIL DEATH…

“And so I think that makes… Three? Yes, three priests I’ve killed now. Plus the bishop. And a lot of monks.” Percy’s eyes were open, but he may as well have been talking in his sleep. He shuffled the papers Althea and Leo had brought back, searching again for anything of use while he waffled on, but it was all old news. All of what they’d stolen, he already knew a hundred times over. Most anything could be defeated with the right combination of salt, stabbing, or Latin, but not this thing.

A bead of sweat that had been gathering momentum at his temple dripped onto the page, spreading out strands of printer ink like the tentacles of a kraken. The kitten lay purring by his fingers, sated by another belly full of good meat.

“How are you feeling?”

Percy shoved the papers to the side and let his head drop against the back of the chair. “Like the Devil shat in my mouth. How are you?”

“I’m great.”

“That’s nice. How’s Joe?”

“He’s doing well. He’s worried about you. He knows you’re going to die right here in this room.”

“I’m going to have him out within the hour.” A choking cough seized Percy’s throat, his gut surging upwards, and he covered an empty retch with an unsteady hand.

Joe chuckled. “I don’t think you’ve got an hour.”

Percy dipped his forehead into his palms, and he drew long, even breaths in and out, trying to calm the nausea. The pulse of his blood ticked in his ears just as the seconds hand ticked its way around his watch, unerring, unrelenting. “You must want something. I don’t understand why you don’t just take me and go. You could get anything you want. Walk me out of here and be done with the whole mess.”

“I waited four hundred years in a dark cellar, trapped in the body of a demon, thirsting for blood, and you don’t think I can wait a little longer for you to expire?”

Percy’s quick eyes examined the thing. “That was a demon’s body?”

“That’s not the point.”

“But you’re not a demon. You’re not a demon and you want Joe, but you won’t kill me to get him. And come to think of it, you haven’t tried to kill Althea or Leo either. What’s that about?” Percy tried and failed to stifle a groan at the sharp pain in his abdomen.

The creature smiled. “That should be your intestines. They’ll start bleeding soon. Have you ever shat blood?”

“That’s a bit personal, don’t you think?”

“It’ll come out everywhere. Your eyes, your ears, your mouth. It’s going to be horrible for him to watch.”

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